Front desk attendant vs guest services agent

The differences between front desk attendants and guest services agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a guest services agent has an average salary of $29,063, which is higher than the $26,874 average annual salary of a front desk attendant.

The top three skills for a front desk attendant include reservations, customer service and cleanliness. The most important skills for a guest services agent are reservations, computer system, and hotel services.

Front desk attendant vs guest services agent overview

	Front Desk Attendant	Guest Services Agent
Yearly salary	$26,874	$29,063
Hourly rate	$12.92	$13.97
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	107,058	94,858
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Average age	37	37
Years of experience	-	-

What does a front desk attendant do?

A front desk attendant serves as the primary point of contact in a building or establishment, ensuring customer satisfaction. Their duties mainly revolve around greeting visitors, responding to inquiries, handling calls and correspondence, arranging appointments, and coordinating with various building offices and departments. Moreover, a front desk attendant's responsibilities will vary on the line of work or one's industry of employment. There are instances in a hotel setting where they must handle check-in and check-out processes, make reservations, and offer amenities.

What does a guest services agent do?

Guest services agents are the ones who communicate with hotel guests who want to reserve or cancel bookings. Their job includes welcoming guests upon arrival, assigning them their rooms and suites, issuing their room keys, and collecting payment information. They organize housekeeping, transport providers, porters, and kitchen staff to meet the requirements of guests. They also resolve issues and deal with disappointed guests' complaints and coordinate third party services, including taxis, rental cars, tour guides, and airport transfers.

Front desk attendant vs guest services agent salary

Front desk attendants and guest services agents have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Front Desk Attendant	Guest Services Agent
Average salary	$26,874	$29,063
Salary range	Between $20,000 And $35,000	Between $23,000 And $36,000
Highest paying City	Anaheim, CA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	California	Washington
Best paying company	Lone Star Circle of Care	East-West Center
Best paying industry	Education	Hospitality

Differences between front desk attendant and guest services agent education

There are a few differences between a front desk attendant and a guest services agent in terms of educational background:

	Front Desk Attendant	Guest Services Agent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Front desk attendant vs guest services agent demographics

Here are the differences between front desk attendants' and guest services agents' demographics:

	Front Desk Attendant	Guest Services Agent
Average age	37	37
Gender ratio	Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9%	Male, 33.6% Female, 66.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 6.6% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 9.5% White, 55.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%	Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 7.0% Hispanic or Latino, 20.3% Asian, 10.3% White, 50.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between front desk attendant and guest services agent duties and responsibilities

Front desk attendant example responsibilities.

Manage confidential information and documentation, including financial data, and credit card information and payroll checks.
Perform extensive customer service, including communicating with members, scheduling reservations, and fielding complaints.
Count and identify clothing to charge correctly on POS system, rack clothing in order on conveyor belt.
Serve guests in a timely and professional manner, handle money/make change, and work with a POS system.
Monitor cleanliness and organization of yoga studio and lobby areas.
Assist on special projects consisting of transferring reservations to new internal booking system and balancing advance deposits

Guest services agent example responsibilities.

Train new associates to Hyatt standards and the most efficient way to accomplish the day's tasks.
Assist customers with booking hotel rooms and handling on-site complaints about rooms, service or billing issues.
Execute strong customer service by facilitating reservations, room amendments on an individual and corporate level, including agencies.
Process special reservation requests in the LMS database.
Maintain room booking lists and directly provide guests with the requested information concerning the facilities locations and surrounding area.
Operate the PBX equipment by accepting incoming calls, assisting outgoing calls, scheduling wake-up calls and supporting room service departments.

Front desk attendant vs guest services agent skills

Common front desk attendant skills

Reservations, 17%
Customer Service, 10%
Cleanliness, 10%
Phone Calls, 9%
Work Ethic, 8%
Guest Satisfaction, 5%

Common guest services agent skills

Reservations, 24%
Computer System, 10%
Hotel Services, 9%
Cash Handling, 7%
Room Reservations, 7%
PBX, 5%

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Front Desk Attendant
Front Desk Attendant vs Guest Services Agent

Updated January 8, 2025

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